Category Manager, Procurement Category

At Amazon, we"re working to be the most customer-centric company on earth. To get there, we need exceptionally talented, bright, and driven people. If you"d like to help us build the place to find and buy anything online, this is your chance to make history.

Amazon's Global Procurement Organization (GPO) Capex Category team is responsible for the strategy, development, and execution of sourcing activity related to integrated material handling equipment (MHE) systems. As our Global Sourcing team continues to grow, we are seeking a Category Manager to partner with internal business owners and key stakeholders to drive procurement and operational value for Amazon. This role leads the development and execution of capital sourcing strategies for MHE systems and/or critical components and projects. Our Category Managers drive efficiencies in procurement strategy and commercial pricing, enable engineering efficiencies through effective partnership with Amazon's design teams, and support Amazon's long-term business interests through partnership with other teams within GPO, Capital Planning, Project Management Organization (PMO), Worldwide Design Engineering (WWDE), Finance, Global Engineering Services (GES) Operations Engineering (Ops Eng.), and Reliability and Maintenance Engineering (RME).

The primary objectives of the Category team are to work with GPO"s Supplier Management team to ensure adequate MHE Integrator capacity exists to support Amazon's business requirements and to develop and execute strategies that keep the procurement of critical MHE resources, products, and services off the critical path.

The nature of this scope requires a Category Manager to work across organizations and influence internal and external stakeholders. Internally, the Category Manager works with stakeholders to drive strategy, enable execution, and identify and mitigate risks. Externally, this role serves as one of the primary supplier-facing roles and is responsible for ensuring Amazon's policies are adhered to and interests are achieved.

This role is expected to operate both at the tactical and strategic level.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead, supported by GPO Category leadership, the development and execution of MHE sourcing strategies for Amazon's Customer Fulfillment, Transportation Services, Air, and/or Specialty Fulfillment network. Support common (standard work), including the supplier development process, supplier selection process, proposal solicitation, review, and negotiations process, and continued managed expansion of the supplier base.
• Develop and nurture strong strategic relationships with key suppliers and business partners to deliver, seeking to continually raise the bar, their performance objectives for the business.
• Support multi-year strategic plans for material handling spend and supplier base development, including implementation of plans to maximize supplier performance: capacity, cost, quality, delivery, and safety.
• Facilitate suppliers' understanding of Amazon policies, equipment design standards, budget and cost targets, and service and quality expectations.
• Develop and utilize improved metrics and data driving decision making capabilities to improve overall organizational capability through systems and processes and drive continuous improvement and value engineering initiatives throughout the organization.

About the team

Our Global Category team manages the procurement lifecycle of complex projects necessary to support Amazon's growth and customer commitments. This work includes initial project planning based on Amazon's Plan of Record (POR), development of sourcing strategies, Capital Expenditure estimates, the solicitation of firm pricing proposals, and proposal analysis, review, and acceptance, culminating in issuance of Amazon Purchase Orders (POs) for services. Post-PO, our team serves as a critical resource resolving commercial escalations and supplier issues, partnering closely with GPO"s Supplier Management team and the GES Operations Engineering team.